Lock, in particular padlock, with tumblers controlled by a magnetic key

ABSTRACT

A lock, particularly a padlock, with tumbler pins controlled by magnets disposed on the key side and suspended on their middle section for a pendulum movement, which comprises a plurality of tumbler pins and a locking plate, whereby the tumbler pins are directed with one end towards the locking plate. The latter has an opening for entrance of the ends of the correspondingly aligned tumbler pins, and is mounted for parallel displacement perpendicularly to its plane and retained by a spring load in an abutment position in front of the ends of the tumbler pins.

United States Patent Boving [l5] 3,657,907 51 Apr. 25, 1972 [54] LOCK,IN PARTICULAR PADLOCK,

WITH TUMBLERS CONTROLLED BY A MAGNETIC KEY Inventor: Egon Boving,Tonisheide, Germany Assignee: Firma Carl Sievers,Heiligenhaus/Rhineland, Germany Filed: Mar. 6, 1970 Appl.No.: 17,232

U.S. Cl. ..70/38 C, 70/276, 70/413 Int. Cl. ..E05b 67/22, EOSb 47/00,E05b 19/26 Field of Search "70/38 R, 38 B, 38 A, 38 C,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1916 Fuller ..70/276 1,719,3097/1929 Radosevic ..70/38 C 2,384,208 9/1945 Stroud ..70/276 3,056,27610/1962 A11ander.. ..70/276 3,395,555 8/1968 Hickman ..70/276 X' PrimaryExaminer-Stan1ey N. Gilreath Assistant Examiner-Edward J. McCarthyAttorney--Ernest G. Montague [5 7] ABSTRACT A lock, particularly apadlock, with tumbler pins controlled by magnets disposed on the keyside and suspended on their middle section for a pendulum movement,which comprises a plurality of tumbler pins and a locking plate, wherebythe tumbler pins are directed with one end towards the locking plate.The latter has an opening for entrance of the ends of thecorrespondingly aligned tumbler pins, and is mounted for paralleldisplacement perpendicularly to its plane and retained by a spring loadin an abutment position in. front of the ends of the tumbler pins.

4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTED APR 2 5 I972 SHEET 1 [IF 3INVENTOR.

By w

PATENTEDAFR 2 5 1972 SHEET 2 BF 3 Fig. 5

Fig. 4

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PATENTEDAPR 25 I972 3, 657. 907 sum 3 UF 3 INVENTOR.

4 WWW BY Wig The present invention relates to a lock, in particular to apadlock, with tumbler pins controlled by magnets disposed on the keyside, which tumbler pins are preferably suspended on their centersection for a pendulum movement, are directed with their one end towardsa locking plate, which locking plate has openings for the entrance ofthe ends of the correspondingly aligned tumbler pins.

Such locks are known already, in which for the purpose of the desiredopening the closing member must be moved at first inwardly in closingdirection. This inward movement of the closing member is necessary, inorder to obtain a distance between the locking plate and the ends of thetumbler pins pointing towards the locking plate, so that the tumblerpins can perform without interference a pendulum movement correspondingto the magnet arrangement in the key. Only after aligning of the tumblerpins can the closing member be moved out of the lock housing into theopen position, such opening is cumbersome. Furthermore, it is ofdisadvantage that the lockingplate in the closing position finds anabutment in the ends of the sensitively suspended tumbler pins.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a lock, inparticular a padlock, with tumblers controlled by a magnetic key, whichcan be extremely simply operated and which operation can be performedwithout difficulty also by a onehand operation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a lock, inparticular a padlock, with tumblers controlled by a magnetic key,wherein a locking plate mounted perpendicularly to its plane forparallel displacement due to a spring load is retained in an abutmentposition prior to the ends of the tumbler pins.

It is in accordance with the present invention of advantage, if a bafflelever engages the locking plate, which bafflelever is abutted by one endof the shackle of the padlock spring-biased in closing direction.

In addition, it is preferable in accordance with the present invention,that the locking plate has a guiding pin on its wide side pointingtowards the tumbler pins and has opposite of the guide pin, a lock wing,the latter being coupled with one arm of the baffle lever by engagementof the forces, while the other arm is disposed below the end-face of theshackle which has an angular shoulder, on which the spring supportsitself and which has a radially directed projection, opposite which isdisposed an entrance opening upon aligning of the shackle on the properclosing angular position.

A further advantage resides in accordance with the present inventionwith the fact, that the locking plate has multi-edged insert pieceshaving equal edge-lengths, in which the openings for the entrance of thetumbler pins are disposed.

.Finally, it is also preferable in accordance with the presentinvention, if a spring loading of the locking plate in the direction ofthe tumbler pins is coordinated to the baffle lever, the force of thespring being less than the force of the spring loading the shackle inopposite direction. Due to this arrangement a lock, in particular apadlock, of a stabile structure is created, which permits an extremelysimple operation. For the opening of the lock, it is merely necessary toinsert the magnet key into a corresponding recess of the lock housing.Since the locking plate is retained in an abutment position in front ofthe ends of the tumbler pins, the latter can align themselves withoutinterference in accordance with the magnet arrangement of thekey. By afollowing pull on the lock housing the closure can easily be opened. Noadditional inward movement of the locking member is required, in orderto remove the locking plate from the ends of the tumbler pins, so thatan undisturbed pendulum movement of the pins is made possible. Theopening can be performed in a favorable manner also without difficultyby a one-hand operation. In this connection, it is of advantage that thesensitively mounted tumbler pins do not form an abutment for the lockingplate, whereby the life of the lock is increased. The safe abutmentposition of the locking plate in front of the ends of the tumbler pinsduring the closing position is assured by a baffle lever. The latter isabutted advantageously by one end of the shackle springbiased in lockingdirection. In order to realize a non-objectionable parallel guidance ofthe locking plate perpendicularly V to its place, the locking plate isequipped on the wide side pointing towards the tumbler pins with a guidepin and oppositely to the latter with a lock wing. The latter standswith one arm of the baffle lever in engagement of the prevailing forcesand in closing position this lock wing locks the shackle, the front endof which abuts the other arm of the baffle lever. The closing positionof the shackle secures a spring, which supports itself on a ringshoulder having a radially directed projection. The projection radiallydirected and coordinated to an entrance opening serves, on the one hand,that in the open position of the closure, the shackle cannot snap backautomatically, since the projection supports itself on the collar or aninner part. On the other hand, the automatic snapping of the shackle cantake place only, if the U-box is brought into the exact closing angleposition thereof. Since the entrance openings for the tumbler pins ofthe locking plate are provided in multi-edged insert pieces of equaledge-lengths, these insert pieces can be reached in the mountingcorresponding withthe arrangement of the magnets in the key in thelocking plate.

The use of these insert pieces is made possible, because due to the freealignment of the tumbler pins the possibility exists, to vary theclosing combination in smallest steps. Even a slightest displacement ofthe entrance openings for a few angular grades sufi'ice, in order toobtain another closing combination. It is no more necessary to punch outindividually each opening in the locking plate. For each lock thus thesame locking plate can be used, whereby the production costs arereduced. The automatic snapping in of the shackle is not impaired, sincethe spring loading the baffle lever and thereby the locking plate in thedirection towards the tumbler pins has a lower force than the springloading the U-bow in opposite direction.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent in thefollowing detailed description, the present invention, which isdisclosed by example only, will be clearly understood in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section through the padlock in closingposition, designed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a key coordinated to the padlock disclosedin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a section along the lines 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal section of the padlock in open position;

FIG. 7 is a section along the lines 7-7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a section along the lines 8-8 of FIG. 6.

Referring. now to the drawings, the padlock designed in accordance withthe present invention comprises a housing 1 which receives the innerstructure 2. This inner structure 2 closes with its ground plate 3 theopening 4 of the housing 1. The inner structure 2 is secured by means ofa screw bolt 5, which enters a threaded bore of a loop 6 formed on theinner structure 2. A bore 7 is provided co-axially to the screw bolt 5in the housing 1 for the end 8 of a shackle 9. In closing position(FIG. 1) the end 8 of the shackle 9 enters the bore 7 of the housing Iand covers up thereby the screw bolt 5. As a further fastening elementfor the inner structure 2 serves a cross-pin 10.

Between the loop 6 and the base plate 3 of the inner structure 2 extendsa guide piece 12 which projects with its collarshaped projection 12through the web 14 of the inner structure. This web 14 has openings 15disposed on the same axis in which the bores 11 are arranged. Betweenthe web 14 and the guide piece 12 is disposed the bearing bridge 16, inthe openings 17 of which flush with the bore 11 of the guide piece 12are mounted the tumbler pins 18 for a pendulum movement. For thispurpose, these tumbler pins 18 are equipped at about their center with aconstriction 19.

A guide pin 20 provided on the wide side of the locking plate 21pointing towards the tumbler pins 18 enters the bore 22 of thecollar-shaped projection 13 of the guide piece 12, which bore 22 iscoordinated to the locking plate 21. Opposite to this guide pin 20, thelocking plate 21 has a locking wing 23, which is four-edged incross-section, such locking wing 23 guides itself in a recess 24 of theinner structure 2 and which is in coupling engagement with one arm 25 ofthe baffle lever 26.

For this purpose the locking wing 23 forms a recess 27. The other arm 28of the baffle lever 26, mounted at the inner structure 2 about the axialpin 29, is disposed below the front end 30 of the arm 30 of the shackle9. A torsion spring 31 coordinated to the baffle lever 26 biases thelocking plate 21 in the direction towards the tumbler pins 18.

The arm 30 of the shackle 9 has a ring shoulder 32 in form of a slidingdisc, on which one end of a pressure spring 33 supports itself, whilethe other end of the pressure spring 33 finds its support on thehousing 1. The force of this spring 33 biasing the shackle 9 in closingdirection is greater than the force of the spring 31 biasing the bafflelever 26, so that in closing position (FIG. 1) the locking plate 21 isretained continuously by means of the baffle lever '26 in an abutmentposition in front of the ends 18 of the tumbler pins 18. For thispurpose the inner structure 2 forms an abutment shoulder 34 for thelocking plate 21.

In closing position, the shackle 9 is blocked by the locking wing 23,which enters a lockingrecess 35 of the arm 30 of the U-bow 9.

The ring shoulder 32 has a radially directed projection 32, to which anentrance opening 2 is disposed opposite on the inner structure 2 uponsetting the shackle 9 to the correct angular position for closingthereof.

Furthermore, the locking plate 21 is equipped with openings 36 forentrance of the ends 18 of the correspondingly aligned tumbler pins 18.These openings 36 are preferably provided in multi-edged insert pieces37 having equal edge-lengths. The locking plate 21 has recesses 38adjusted to the insert pieces 37, which assume the shape of a hexagon.It is thus possible, to insert during the mounting of the lock theinsert pieces 37 in accordance with the arrangement of the magnets 39 inthe key 40. The structural parts provided within the range of themagnetic force of the magnets as well as the block of the key 40comprise insulating or nonmagnetic material in addition to the tumblerpins 18. Since the total closing parts are disposed in a one-parthousing, a good protection against weather influences and soilings isassured.

The operation of the lock is performed in the following manner:

Starting with FIG. I, which discloses the closing position of the lock,the key 40 is brought into the lateral recess 41 of the lock housing 1.The force of the magnets 39 is effective upon the tumbler pins 18, whichalign themselves accordingly. The ends 18' of the tumbler pins 18 aredisposed, therefore, in a flush position with the openings 36 of thelocking plate 21. By a pull on the shackle 9 in the direction of thearrow or by a pull on the housing 1, the baffle lever 26 is released andthe torsion spring 31 swings over the baffle lever 26, the arm 25 ofwhich moves the locking plate 21 in direction y. By this movement in thedirection y, the locking wing 23 steps out from the locking recess 35,while the tumbler pins 18 enter the openings 36 of the locking plate 21.In open position the radially directed projection 32' of the ringshoulder 32 engages the collar 42 of the inner structure 2, so that theopen position is secured. The locking plate 21 finds its abutment bymeans of the guide pin 20 on the wall 1 of the housing 1. The closing ofthe closure takes place such, that the shackle 9 swings into the properangular position for closing, so that the entrance opening 2 is disposedopposite to the projection 32. The pre-tensioned pressure spring 33 isrelaxed and moves the shackle 9 in closing direction. .The end-face 30'of the shackle 9 abuts the arm 28 ofthe baffle lever 26, which bringsthe locking ]plate 21 into its original position and in which positionthe loc ing wing 23 enters the locking recess 35 of the arm 30 of theU-bow 9.

The bore 38. follows co-axially to the recess 38 of the locking plate.The bore 38 is chosen with such diameter that the locking plate 21, incase of aligned tumbler pins 18 by the key 40, can be displaced parallelin the direction towards the tumbler pins 18 without interference. Theopenings 11 and 15 disposed over the same axis are likewise sufficientlylarge, so that the swinging movement and the pendulum movement of thepins are not impaired.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is tobe understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in alimiting sense.

I claim:

1. A look, particularly a padlock, with magnetically operative tumblerpins disposed on a key side and suspended on their middle section for apendulum movement, comprising a plurality of tumbler pins,

a locking plate, said tumbler pins being directed with first ends,respectively, towards said locking plate,

said locking plate having openings for entrance of said first ends,respectively, of the correspondingly aligned tumbler pins, and

said locking plate defining a plane and being mounted transverselyshiftable relative to said plan,

said locking plate being retained in an abutment position in front ofsaid one end of said tumbler pins,

a U-shackle,

spring means biasing said U-shackle in a closing direction,

a baffle lever having two arms,

one of said arms abutting said U-shackle,

said locking plate having a locking wing, the latter having a rearwardend,

the other arm of said baffle lever being coupled with said locking wingof said locking plate,

said rearward end of said locking wing adapted to engage boltin'gly insaid U-shackle,

a spring operatively biasing said locking plate in the direction of saidtumbler pins being coordinated to said baffle lever, and I said springhaving a lesser operative force than that of said spring means whichbiases said U-shackle in an opposite direction.

2. The lock, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said baffle lever isabutted by one end of said U-shackle of said lock.

3. The lock, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said locking plate has onits wide side pointing towards said tumbler pins a guiding pin andopposite to the latter said locking wing,

the latter is operatively coupled with said other arm of said bafflelever,

said one arm of said baffle lever is disposed below an endface of saidU-shackle, which has a ring shoulder,

said spring means supporting itself on said ring shoulder and the latterhas a radially directed projection, and an entrance opening disposedopposite said projection, upon aligning said U-shackle to a correctangular position for closing. 8

4. The lock, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said locking plate hasmulti-edged insert pieces with equal edge lengths and said insert piecesdefine openings for entrance of said tumbler pins.

1. A lock, particularly a padlock, with magnetically operative tumblerpins disposed on a key side and suspended on their middle section for apendulum movement, comprising a plurality of tumbler pins, a lockingplate, said tumbler pins being directed with first ends, respectively,towards said locking plate, said locking plate having openings forentrance of said first ends, respectively, of the correspondinglyaligned tumbler pins, and said locking plate defining a plane and beingmounted transversely shiftable relative to said plan, said locking platebeing retained in an abutment position in front of said one end of saidtumbler pins, a U-shackle, spring means biasing said U-shackle in aclosing direction, a baffle lever having two arms, one of said armsabutting said U-shackle, said locking plate having a locking wing, thelatter having a rearward end, the other arm of said baffle lever beingcoupled with said locking wing of said locking plate, said rearward endof said locking wing adapted to engage boltingly in said U-shackle, aspring operatively biasing said locking plate in the direction of saidtumbler pins being coordInated to said baffle lever, and said springhaving a lesser operative force than that of said spring means whichbiases said U-shackle in an opposite direction.
 2. The lock, as setforth in claim 1, wherein said baffle lever is abutted by one end ofsaid U-shackle of said lock.
 3. The lock, as set forth in claim 1,wherein said locking plate has on its wide side pointing towards saidtumbler pins a guiding pin and opposite to the latter said locking wing,the latter is operatively coupled with said other arm of said bafflelever, said one arm of said baffle lever is disposed below an end-faceof said U-shackle, which has a ring shoulder, said spring meanssupporting itself on said ring shoulder and the latter has a radiallydirected projection, and an entrance opening disposed opposite saidprojection, upon aligning said U-shackle to a correct angular positionfor closing.
 4. The lock, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said lockingplate has multi-edged insert pieces with equal edge lengths and saidinsert pieces define openings for entrance of said tumbler pins.